


There's No Place Like Home

by orphan_account



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Multi, Queer Themes, Role Reversal, Supernatural Elements, Trans Danny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-25 21:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6210196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny has long known that the ghost zone links to different Ghost Realms but never did he consider that it might link to alternate versions of his own reality as well. Well, Danny has always learned by doing and he's in for a crash course when he ends up in a universe where old enemies are allies and his most trusted companions can't stand him. In a world where Danny has no idea who knows what and who he can trust how can he find his way to his real home?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey Fenton!" Came a familiar, jeering voice and Danny closed his eyes and braced himself. Of course the first person who would find him was the bully. He didn't want to deal with this, he was still worn out from his month trapped in the ghost zone. All he wanted was to find Sam and Tucker, tell them he was fine after so long – not that he would be after Dash was through with him.

Danny took a deep breath, before he slammed his locker shut and turned on his heel. "What, Baxter?" Danny asked as he glared up at the football star. He had faced off with more horrifying ghosts than he could count, and even now he was still black and blue from the fights. His nose was visibly crooked from a bad break and he had double black eyes, tinged an ugly glowing green from the ectoplasm trying to heal him. One arm was heavily bandaged to cover the stitches he had needed after a ghost tiger had chewed on him and from the way he was standing it was clear that one leg couldn't support his weight.

"Aw, c'mon Fenton what'd I do this time?" Dash said . . . pouted? He leaned over Danny, pressing one arm against the lockers level with Danny's head. Danny leaned back, pressing his shoulders against the cold locker and holding his texts books up to his chest like a defensive shield. "Woah, you look terrible," Dash said as he leaned forward. One of his fingers brushed Danny's chin before he gently tipped the smaller boy's head upwards. Danny let him, confusion and unease churning in his stomach and he briefly forgot to sass Dash.

"Uh. Thanks?" Danny said. He raised his chin sharply, jerking away from Dash's touch and trying to become one with the locker. Bullying he had been more than ready for, but after so long in the ghost zone he was used to only matching aggression to aggression and Dash was being unnervingly nonaggressive. "Well. I have to get to class," Danny said, turning a little to escape, only to be confronted with Dash's other arm.

"Woah, Fenton. Hey, hey I'm sorry I didn't find you earlier. Jazz didn't tell me you were back until this morning – but! Check it out!" Dash pulled out a thick red folder and waggled it in front of Danny's nose before he slipped it into Danny's arms. "Kwan helped me put that all together, everything you missed while you were gone. Wait a couple days before you turn anything in but all you have to do is sign your name at the top." Dash was beaming at Danny. Why was he beaming at Danny? For some reason that was all Danny could focus on.

Danny's jaw went slack as he stared at the folder in his arms. Then he looked at Dash. Then he looked at the folder. Was this a prank? When he opened the folder would it be filled with used condoms? Was Dash actually being serious? He needed to find Sam and Tucker urgently and find out what had happened in the month he had been missing. "I have practice after school, we can talk after that, okay? Come watch me though, if you get the chance. You're my good luck charm, Fenton."

"I- I am?" Danny asked. If slowly dawned on him that Dash appeared to be flirting with him and he squirmed nervously. This was a game, Danny knew it, but he couldn't see the point.

Dash just chuckled at his incredulous expression and said, "You know it" before he did the last thing Danny expected. Dash leaned down and pressed his lips to Danny's.

His lips were warm and a little too thin and they had that waxy feel of too much chapstick over peeling, chapped skin. There was a flush of unexpected warmth in Danny in response to the contact and his heart thumped a little harder. Out of unease, he decided. Nevermind that the feeling was identical to when he kissed Sam.

Dash snickered when he drew back and saw how scarlet Danny's face was and how wide his eyes were. The wild emotions Danny was feeling made his eyes glow a brilliant green but oddly Dash hardly seemed it notice. "Good to know you missed me that much," Dash said playfully. Danny looked around his broad shoulders but no one in the crowded hall paid any more attention than whenever Dash would smooch Paulina against her locker. Was this normal? What the hell had happened while Danny was away? Dash pulled his arms away from the lockers, sticking them cheerfully into his pockets as he unpinned Danny from the wall. Dash looked like he was about to touch Danny again before the bell rang and Dash looked suddenly disappointed.

"Ugh, worst timing, huh? See you at lunch Fenton!" Dash gave Danny a wave over his shoulder as he power walked away to his first class of the day. Danny just stared after him at the hallway drained, feeling flushed and excited despite himself. But he was more confused than anything else. Dash was gay? Or at the very least he was interested in men. Or, more specifically, he had a sudden interest in Danny.

From the way he had acted around Danny it seemed like before he vanished they had some sort of relationship with each other. More than the bully-victim dynamic Danny was familiar with and had come to expect. But he had to be screwing with Danny, it wasn't like Dash was actually . . . interested in him. Was he? Not that it mattered, Danny wasn't at all interested in men, and especially not Dash. Dash was a huge meathead! What was there to be interested in? Danny told himself that again and again as he ignored the fluttering butterflies in his stomach.

He would have to tell Dash he wasn't interested during lunch, put an end to whatever stupid prank Dash was playing on him. Danny took a nervous, shaky breath just as the late bell rang. The halls were completely empty, not a single person left rushing through the halls and Danny almost tripped on his feet as he remembered that he had Lancer's class next and that both Sam and Tucker would be there so he could talk to them about what the hell he had missed in the last month. He was sure they would have a lot to tell him.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny just about tripped over his own feet as he reached the door, he had been running full speed since he snapped out of his trance and he had almost run right on past the correct room. He could see Lancer at the front of the room with an open book in one hand and a long stick tapping at something he had written on the board. Danny peered in, spotting Tucker but no Sam. Damn! She was the one she wanted to see the most after Dash’s kiss. 

He took a deep breath before he looked down at the red folder still in his arms. He tucked it neatly in between his binder and text books so Lander wouldn’t spy it right away. No reason to get it confiscated before he had a chance to see what Dash had actually given him. 

Then, finally, Danny slipped into the classroom. Every eye snapped on him, distracted from the boring lecture by the movement and the people sitting nearest to the front gasped at the sight of him. Anyone being gone from school for so long got people talking and when you showed up looking like you’d lost a fight to a lawnmower . . .  
“Price of Salt,” came a hushed exclamation, but by the time Danny looked at Lancer he looked composed and almost bored. “Mr. Fenton, take your seat and see me after class.”

“Yes sir,” Danny said meekly and he worked his way to the seat across from Tucker, the only empty one aside from the spot usually occupied by Sam. He could feel all the eyes of the class boring into him, tracing the bruises on his eyes that melted into the bruises on his temples, studying the skin on his neck not covered by his shirt where the very top of an ugly acid burn could be seen, and trying to peel off the bandages that barely covered his impossibly large gashes. Well, almost every eye in the classroom. Mr. Lancer was looking forward and Tucker was stanchly avoiding his gaze. 

It seemed off to Danny. Had he done something that upset his friend? Maybe it was the same thing that made Dash so very fond of him and Danny turned the start of his chuckle into a dry cough as he dropped into his seat. Ah, just as stiff and uncomfortable as he remembered. It seemed a little smaller than he was used to, though. And just a little too tight. While everyone was distracted by the state of him Danny was more impressed when he realized that he had managed to grow up almost a full two inches and the muscles on his arms in his human form were now almost as impressive as those of his ghost half! 

‘How does Dash fit in these?’ Danny wondered as he glanced over Kwan sitting in the back. He was nearly the same size as Dash was but he seemed completely at ease in his chair, even leaning back against the brick wall of the classroom with his notebook on one knee as he jotted in it with a pen that looked like it had been stolen from a bank. Kwan noticed him almost immediately and when his head jerked up Danny wondered if he had actually been watching him out of the corner of his eyes. 

There was no malice in Kwan’s eyes as he smiled brightly at Danny and waves slightly before he pointed towards the front of the classroom. Telling him to get back to work? Kwan was telling him to get back to work? Well, Dash had said Kwan had helped do Danny’s missing homework . . . apparently he had taken an interest in his studies?

Danny turned his body forward but his eyes roamed the classroom. It was a habit now, to gauge all his Enemies. Classmates. He wasn’t in the ghost zone anymore, Danny had to remember that. He couldn’t act like he was ready to fight his classmates and teachers at the drop of a hat. Normal people didn’t think like that, and Danny had to retrain himself not to. 

And then . . . there was nothing else to distract himself with. He needed to talk to Tucker. Danny studied his friend out of the corner of his eye, still baffled as to why Tucker had refused to so much as glance at him. He had seen all sorts of wounds on Danny before but even so this sort of disinterest seemed completely uncalled for. Danny furrowed his eyebrows at Tucker and chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Was Tucker trying to tell him something? Maybe. He hoped so. 

Danny opened his notebook and started writing, not really paying attention to what his hand was doing while he did his best to pay attention to Lancer. With how silent and stressed all his classmates looked Danny doubted he could get away with whispering in class.  
Why didn’t Tucker come talk to him before class? Instead Danny had been cornered by Dash and kissed against his will! When else would he need his best friend there to defend him? And if Sam was around he was sure Dash would have never been able to get so close to him . . .

. . . So close that Danny had been able to see that Dash’s pale eyelashes were as long as Paulina’s. The way he only half closed his eyes when they kissed, so he wouldn’t stop looking at Danny’s face. The heat that radiated off his skin, warming the ghostly chill of Danny’s own lips. If Dash had pressed his tongue into Danny’s mouth Danny was certain that his radiating heat would have made his mouth steam. Dash had a strong jaw too, and even when his lips brushed over Danny’s lightly he could feel the strength in Dash’s neck and how easily Dash could have pressed him down, pinning him and kissing him so hard-

Danny’s eyes sank to his paper, a mass of scribbles going in and out of English and Greek and a few lines of Latin. Most of them followed a basic outline of Lancer’s rant on the historical importance of Edgar Allen Poe but there was a sentence at the bottom that caught his eye. There, in dull shimmering graphite in his own traitorous handwriting read ‘why didn’t he kiss me harder?’

Danny flushed hard and he roughly turned the page in his notebook. He wasn’t like that! He wasn’t interested in Dash and never had been. He was a bully! Even if he had suddenly treated Danny gently. He wouldn’t believe it, if Dash was picking on anyone then Danny was utterly uninterested. Besides, he liked Sam. He didn’t crane is neck when they kissed, it had always felt completely natural. Her lips were plump and always had the sweet taste of her lipstick. Her kiss had always stained his lips and whenever he caught his reflection with a purple lower lip he had always felt smug. He needed to see Sam. That would clear everything up. 

“Alright, since Ms. Manson isn’t here and Mr. Fenton is so far behind, you and Mr. Foley may pair up.” Danny blinked and looked up from his notebook, confused. He had no idea what they were pairing up for but regardless he turned to in his seat to grin at Tucker but before he got the chance Tucker deftly killed any enthusiasm. He groaned and rolled his eyes, the way he usually did when he was told he had to pair up with Dash. When their eyes met Danny was stunned to see there was only hostility. 

As the other pairs started chattering away and filling up worksheets that Lancer had passed out Danny looked down to avoid his best friend’s cold stare. He. . . had never even heard of the book the questions were about.  
“Uh, um, so Tuc-“

“Look, let’s just get this over with, okay?” Tucker said as he started to scribble out answers without bothering to ask Danny what he thought. “Bad enough to get paired with a meathead, at least Kwan read the book.” He had muttered it under his breath, but with Danny’s hearing it was as clear as day.

“Kwan has a partner,” Danny said, “and I’m not a meathead! What’s your damage, Tuck?”

Tucker paused in writing and blinked. Then he looked up and blinked again. It was as though he was trying to figure something out for a moment and forgot to be hostile before he leaned back in his seat and made his lips a thin line. “Don’t call me Tuck,” Tucker said, “and you still didn’t do the reading so shut up and let me think.”

“Tucker-“ Danny said as Tucker looked back down and started writing again. He didn’t bother to keep the hurt out of his voice and Tucker looked up again, “don’t you . . . want to know what happened? Where I was?”

“Uh, no?” Tucker said bluntly. “I’m not your boyfriend, dude. Shouldn’t you be talking to Dash about this?” His dislike seemed to have been overcome by something akin to concern. 

“Dash isn’t my boyfriend!” Danny protested as he turned scarlet. For some reason the accusation made him feel excited and he squirmed in discomfort. Tucker arched an eyebrow and snorted in sudden amusement.

“Says the guy sucking face in front of my locker,” Tucker said, “if you aren’t dating then you should probably let him know.” Tucker tried to hide his laugh so Lancer wouldn’t notice but he was actually smiling at Danny now. Danny was still confused as to why his friend had been so cold but at least he was warming up quickly. Before he could try to butter Tucker up any more Tucker suddenly glanced over at Sam’s empty seat and steeled his expression again. 

Was . . . Sam mad at him too? Oh come on! What had happened while he had been gone? Danny groaned and rested his chin on his hand. “Where’s Sam anyway? I was hoping that I could talk to her too.”

“You what?” Tucker demanded, a look of horror overtaking him. “Dude, did you get some kind of head damage? Why?”

“Um . . . cause she’s my friend?” Danny said. 

“Right. Okay. Look dude, do you need to go to the hospital or something?” Danny leaned back, looking a little offended at the accusation as Tucker went on, “if you think she’s your friend then you have a weird definition of friendship.” Tucker made a face like something bitter had been popped in his mouth unexpectedly. He seemed like he was torn, like his natural inkling to help was mixed with his apparent dislike of Danny. He tapped his pencil furiously against his paper, making a large gray-black dot at the top of the page. “I dunno what happened to you, dude, but you really need to like talk to your boyfriend or sister or something and work some stuff out.”

Danny flushed and looked down, feeling confused and a little hurt. It was only then, sitting in the classroom that he suddenly realized and he shot up out of his seat. “Woah, hey!” Tucker protested as Danny grabbed his books so roughly that he almost elbowed him in the face. 

“Bathroom,” he said as he bolted out of the room before Lancer had the chance to tell him to get back to his seat. As soon as the door banged shut behind him he was intangible and he sprinted into the opposite wall. There was a perfectly logical explanation as to why his friends were treating him so strangely, why the month he had been gone seemed to have jumbled everything almost beyond recognition. 

He had never come back. He was still trapped somewhere in the ghost zone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just throwing this out there but I 100% headcanon Danny as trans. It probably won’t come up very much in the story but I don’t really want it to surprise anyone when it’s mentioned in passing. There are just so many great theories out there about it that I couldn’t resist putting it in my story! 
> 
> Also in this story I go by the theory that ghosts understand all languages so Danny sometimes accidentally writes in a language he shouldn’t know. 
> 
> Also, so everyone knows this is on ao3 and fanfiction.net under the same name in case someone out there wants it in a different format.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, finally trying a multi part fic, I haven't done this since I was 12 so hopefully I'll do better now than I did then. Just as a quick note this isn't a shippy kind of story. I'm not pro Danny/Dash and I'm not anti Sam/Danny. These kids are in high school and relationships, especially ones that involve queer elements, can be pretty tricky. There also won't be character bashing since I want to explore a world where they're the same people but Danny's relationships with them are wildly different. How different will be played with in the coming chapters.
> 
> Also, quick note: Danny is bisexual in this story, both the Danny we're following and this universe's missing Danny. The difference is our Danny has never admitted it to himself b/c internalized homophobia and the worry that it would make him even more of a freak than he already thinks he is. 
> 
> There won't be a heck of a lot of overly mature themes, the rating comes from the fact that the characters are teens and will be acting like teens.


End file.
